We're bottom of the pile say councils

Spending on local public services has been placed firmly in reverse gear and returned to levels similar to those back in 2001. This means councils will be trying to respond to current levels of demand, and manage issues such as significant population growth, with the financial resources they had 14 to 15 years ago. The draft settlement for local government has slashed almost £150 million from our budgets at a single stroke.

The two biggest services in local government are education and social services. Together they account for over 65% of our total spend, and with Welsh Government insisting that education spend remains protected it is unavoidable that other services are being dismantled to fund this. The further budget cuts that will now need to be made within these smaller service areas will undoubtedly see many of them begin to fail completely in the future.